[sj10689]

The following is a forecast of my expectations for this year, for entertainment purposes. You can also extract some ideas from it, as well as add and contribute ideas of your own.

2013:

Jan. 30: BlackBerry 10 is officially launched; its first phone, the BlackBerry Z10, is officially rolled out in markets gradually, worldwide.


Mar. 22: After 51 days of waiting, the Z10 is officially introduced into the US markets. AT&T ultimately fails to downplay the Z10 arrival.

Mar. 28: The Q4 2013 earnings report for BlackBerry proves very positive; consumer and developer confidence in the BlackBerry 10 product rises

Apr. 15: CEO Thorsten Heins announces the BlackBerry Q10 has received surprising developer support for future apps; 65,000+ Q10 apps are officially announced, as of this date

Apr. 26: A major BB10 and BlackBerry Link update is released, prior to the Q10 launch.

Apr. 30: The BlackBerry Q10 launches a day ahead of Samsung's Galaxy S4, in Canada, the US, and UK. Gradual rollout throughout markets worldwide commence.


May 5: BGR writes a surprisingly flattering Q10 review. BlackBerry troll population decreases steadily.

May 14-16: BlackBerry Jam Americas, in Orlando, Florida. Developers receive free Q10s. Event proves to be a hit.

May 21: Under increasing pressure and scrutiny, Apple officially announces the iPhone 5S, to the surprise of nobody. In other news, Apple CEO Tim Cook downplays the Apple flatscreen TV again.

Jun. 7: Right before E3 commences, Thorsten Heins announces a new BlackBerry 10 tablet; in a surprising twist, the name is changed from "PlayBook" to "Spectrum" (?). Also, vague details of a phablet ("Aristo") are announced. All we know of this phablet are that it will sport a 3,600 mAh non-removable Li-ion battery (upgraded from 2,800 mAh), a 1920 x 1152 resolution (Z10 upscaled 1.5x), and will have a gyroscope, altimeter and micro-USB mass storage support.
* I originally thought about naming the new tablet the "Portal", but thought better of it and chose "Spectrum" instead.

Jun. 11-13: E3 convention in Los Angeles, CA. Apple officially announces the Apple 5S phone will launch August 23, and have a full HD retina display, among other things. Google features Android Key Lime Pie (v. 5.0).The PS4 is fully revealed. Most importantly, Thorsten Heins announces a Sep. 4 release date for the BlackBerry Spectrum, insisting that it will not be competing in any way with the 5S. The Spectrum will be an 8.5" BB10 tablet with a 2880 x 1620 resolution (401 dpi) with all of the available BB10 features, and more. In addition to its browser getting a 500/500 score on the HTML5 test, it will also feature a 1.7 MHz processor, micro-USB mass storage compatibility, 4K support (super HD), a BlackBerry TV service (via subscription), fully-functional Documents To Go (that is actually useful), microphone, a 10 MP back/5 MP front camera, an actually decent file browser, a BB10 phone simulator connected through BlackBerry Bridge/Cloud (Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) and lastly, software that has features similar to PhotoShop and Animator. Sony and BlackBerry dominate E3. Apple and Google fares well. However, Microsoft bombs at it.

Jun. 28: The Z10 just introduced its 200,000th app; congrats!

Jul. 14: BlackBerry 10.2 software update available for the Z10 and Q10. A number of subtle enhancements/improvements are made. BlackBerry World gets a slight makeover and is optimized for UX.

Jul 27: A low-end BB10 device, the N10, launches in select markets worldwide. It combines some features of the Q10 (keyboard) and the Z10 (aspect ratio), with a 960 x 540 resolution 3.5" screen, running on a 1.3 mHz processor. It sells surprisingly well.

Aug. 7: BlackBerry Maps receives a HUGE upgrade, after months of scathing criticism from media and users. While it does not have all of the features of Google Maps, it does incorporate a better 3D display, more reliable traffic updates, (more) businesses listed, filters, transit info, augmented reality, and 3D renderings of buildings in beta. It takes advantage of the BB10 functionalities on the Z10/Q10, without consuming that much RAM.

Aug. 15: iPhone 5S preorders begin

Aug. 23: The iPhone 5S is finally released. Its OS receives a minor overhaul and a few improvements are spotted here and there. The usual ensues. Apple simultaneously receives praise and criticism. In sum, it's nothing too special, though the improvements are somewhat noteworthy.

Aug. 26: Not one to miss a beat, Samsung releases the Galaxy Note III with a full 1080p display, right before the Note II's 1st birthday and before the BB Spectrum. (Very shrewd, Sammy. Very shrewd.) Having learned a few lessons the past few months, Samsung clearly caught up with the competition by adding more productivity apps to their phablet and improving on the features introduced on the S4. The Note III is a success, although there are some issues with the battery and battery life.

Aug. 28: Users can pre-order their BlackBerry Spectrum tablets; the 32 ($349/$399 LTE), 64 ($399/$449 LTE) and 128 GB ($499/$529 LTE) versions are available.

Sep. 4: BlackBerry Spectrum tablets go on sale; launched with BlackBerry 10.3 software


Sep. 11: BlackBerry 10.3 software becomes available for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Sep. 15: CNN Money has a change of heart, and actually writes a positive article on BlackBerry and the BlackBerry 10.

Sep. 27: Nokia releases their flagship device, the Nokia Lumia 1080. It emerges as the best Windows 8 Phone in the market, and competes formidably with the top smartphones in the market. It comes included with a wireless HDMI transmitter built in and receiver adapter (other end) and works fantastically. One particular sales pitch is its native compatibility with XBOX 720 and other Microsoft products and software. The ante has officially been upped.

Oct. 18: Apple releases the iPad+ and iPad+ Mini. For the first time in a while, Apple wows their user base again. The screen isn't quite at a 4K resolution, but it's pretty damned close. The iPad+ presents a foray into their new OS, which introduces user customizability and an interface that isn't dull. The browser gets a significant overhaul as well. As it is LTE+ (renamed from LTE-Advanced) enabled, it competes directly with the Spectrum, and tries its best to outdo it. In the end, they're pretty much evenly matched. The Spectrum scores major points for its superior browser, while the iPad+ shows off with its camera and app selections.

Nov. 5: BlackBerry World accrues a total of 350,000 apps.

Nov. 15: HTC, who has fallen behind as of late, releases the HTC Two. It turns out to be a really good smartphone that just showed up too late to the party. It sells well, but doesn't quite get the respect it deserves.

Nov. 22: BlackBerry announces the U10 ("Aristo") smartphone and its release date, and full list of specs. While BlackBerry still trails Apple and Google in the smartphone market, it has increased its mobile market share to 8.7% amidst intense competition. Microsoft is in trouble, but has been saved by the Lumia 1080; unfortunately, it suffered a setback earlier when threatened with lawsuits over its XBOX 720 and software license restrictions.

Nov. 29: Samsung introduces its 4096 x 2160 4K HD Smart TV into the market, on Black Friday, for $5,500. It causes quite the stir. Several people are killed due to the Black Friday madness.

Dec 1: The PlayStation 4 is finally released. It sells for $399 USD. Needless to say, crowds lined up outside of retail chains went wild.

Dec. 10: The BB U10 is released. It has (as mentioned above) a 3,600 mAh non-removable Li-ion battery, a 1920 x 1152 resolution on a 5" screen (448 ppi), a gyroscope, altimeter and micro-USB mass storage support. In addition, its camera is much improved, and colors are beautifully reproduced in photo quality. The U10 sports an amazing compatibility with numerous devices in cloud systems, including other phones, computers, printers and TVs. However, the one downfall of the U10 is the lack of an internal wireless HDMI transmitter. Fortunately, Heins foresaw this, and made available a pluggable HDMI transmitter and pluggable HDMI receiver accessory, which communicate with each other. A wonderful accessory is also introduced, which fits a fold-out keyboard onto the U10 with a kickstand (for watching movies), and fits in an extra battery into the portable kickstand/keyboard for longer total battery life. The U10 gets rave reviews, but faces very stiff competition. Also, its battery life comes close to the Droid RAZR MAXX, but doesn't quite hit the benchmark. But, with the portable keyboard with extra battery included, the U10 could exceed the MAXX's total battery life by 36%, based on the results of hundreds of battery tests.

* Also, CrackBerry Kevin gets his hands on an extremely rare orange U10. Thorsten Heins issued it to him, special, as a gift of great gratitude for promoting BlackBerry, as its "cult leader". In a subsequent ceremony, Heins coronates Kevin as a "made man".

Dec. 14: Microsoft stumbles into the video game landscape with a nationwide XBOX 720 release. Due to some last minute circumstances, which included lawsuit threats, in conjunction with the upcoming holiday season, XBOX 720 was expected to be a half-baked product. While that wasn't exactly the case, there is widespread dissent over each game disc having to be installed completely into the system (which could only be done once the console was registered online), with a mandatory online verification process (which includes the hated product key), with an online account being mandatory; in addition, each disc could only be used to perform 3 installs, regardless of whether or not it is reinstalled into the same exact console. Fortunately, the "always on" fiasco was settled by giving the user the option to enable or disable the feature. Under excruciating circumstances, GameStop and Microsoft signed a mutual agreement, which resulted in GameStop re-selling games at a price fixed by Microsoft, whence developers get a 40% cut of the resale. The process is quite complicated, and leads to some actual lawsuits later on.

Dec. 19: The BlackBerry Q3 2014 earnings call reveals that most of the damage done by the fall into mediocrity of BlackBerry has been reversed, and that BlackBerry is back to operating on 2008 levels; however, Apple and Google have taken off in the smartphone market, so BlackBerry is still way behind that point in time, in a relative sense. However, Thorsten Heins emphatically states how "BlackBerry is a mobile computing company, and mobile computing is the future; therefore, BlackBerry IS the future!"

Dec. 20: Alec Saunders and the BlackBerry developers band get together again and release a Christmas Holidays Carols CD, "Berry Holiday Jam". Vivek Bhardwaj dyes his hair and puts on the performance of a lifetime. This isn't your ordinary procession of carols, though. There are guitars, drums, ramped-up vocals, and everything! Kevin sets their version of "Jingle Bells" as his ringtone, on his orange U10 (his primary phone).

Dec. 24: CrackBerry Kevin finally gives away the 3,000 or so phones he has accumulated from all the mobile carrier launches for each of the models in an epic BlackBerry giveaway; one of them happens to be a Star Wars-edition BlackBerry Z10.

Dec. 31, 11:59:59.99 PM: For the first time ever, CrackBerry.com receives 20 million hits in a month.

[sj10689]

I posted two other duplicate threads by accident, since they didn't show up right away. A reading of the thread rules has better informed me of procedures, and how threads are moderated. I'm new to the forums, so this is understandable.